Title page for ETD etd-0410103-190112

Identifying Skills Needed by Office Information Systems Graduates in the Changing Work Environment: Perceptions of Administrative Support Occupations Workers

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Vocational Education

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name

Title

Donna H. Redmann

Committee Chair

Geraldine H. Holmes

Committee Member

Michael F. Burnett

Committee Member

Satish Verma

Committee Member

Daryl M. McKee

Dean's Representative

Keywords

workforce

curriculum revision

curriculum design

Date of Defense

2003-03-21

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

This study sought to identify the skills that need to be taught in an associate degree program for office information systems. Specifically, the researcher sought to determine the importance of skills needed by office information systems/ administration graduates with implications for curricular revision. One hundred and fifty-seven members of the International Association of Administrative Professionals in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and East Texas including the Houston, Texas area participated in this study.

Findings indicated that the participants perceived 109 (85%) of the job skill items to be important, very important, or extremely important in the performance of their jobs. Only 19 (15%) of the job skill items were perceived to be somewhat important in the performance of their jobs.

Almost all of the participants were women and the average number of years in the administrative support occupation field was almost 22 years. Almost three-fourths of the participants had completed some type of post-secondary type of education. The participants reported 70 job titles with the most frequently reported job titles of administrative assistant or executive assistant.

Over one-third of the participants were employed in the service industry and one-third reported the scope of the organization as international. Almost one-third of the participants reported the size of the office where they worked as large and over half reported the type of community as large.

Using the perceived importance of the nine job skill categoriesí summated scores and selected personal and professional demographic characteristics, the researcher calculated stepwise multiple on nine separate regression equations. This procedure returned four statistically significant models. However, these models did not explain a large portion of the variance.

Recommendations and implications were given for Office Information Systems curriculum associate degree programs. Also, recommendations and implications were provided for future research and studies.